Cotton harvesters typically include a series of harvesting units arranged on a head assembly for harvesting material from generally parallel rows of cotton plants. In one form of cotton harvester, each harvesting unit includes a pair of brush-type rollers for stripping materials from the plants during the harvesting process.
An inherent feature of cotton strippers is that both ripe and green bolls of cotton are removed from the plants during the harvesting process. The green and ripe bolls are separated through use of an air stream as they pass from the head assembly. The green or heavier bolls are collected in a green-boll container, and the ripe or lighter bolls are blown toward a cotton receiving receptacle.
The green boll container is typically mounted beneath an operator's station of the harvester. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, only limited space constraints are provided beneath the operator station. In addition to limited space constraints, sufficient ground clearance for the harvester must be maintained. Thus, the size and therefore capacity of the green boll container is limited. Moreover, the location of the green boll container beneath the operator station makes it difficult for the operator to ascertain the content level of the green boll container. Nonvisual access to the container coupled with limited capacity mandates frequent dumping of the green boll container. Typically, the green boll container is mounted such that it can be tilted to dump the green bolls therefrom at the end of a plant row or whenever the container is full.
In some instances, due to lack of visibility of the container and its limited holding capacity, the green boll container will become full without the knowledge of the operator. When such conditions occur, the accumulation of green bolls within the container interferes with proper separation of green and ripe bolls and, thus, hinders proper operation of the harvester. That is, an accumulation of green bolls can block or plug an inlet to duct structure used to convey the ripe or lighter bolls from the head assembly. Even partial blockage of the inlet to the duct structure can adversely affect the air system used to separate the green and ripe bolls.
Thus, there is a need and a desire for a discharge conveyor system which effectively separates green and ripe bolls and provides structure for positively conveying green bolls away from an inlet to duct structure and for releasably holding the green bolls in a container structured to provide maximum holding capacity while maintaining sufficient ground clearance for the harvester.